Impact of a brief education about mental illness on stigma of OCD and violent thoughts

• We demonstrate the impact of OCD education on understanding of violent thoughts.
• We examine how education about OCD and Schizophrenia influences negative attitudes.
• Before education OCD was not a credible diagnosis for a target with violent thoughts.
• Following education, OCD was highly credible for the target with violent thoughts.
• Negative attitudes towards the target decreased following education.

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) has been largely ignored in the stigma literature. The present study examined perceptions of violent thoughts that varied in terms of the diagnostic label – OCD, Schizophrenia, or no diagnostic label – assigned to a target experiencing such thoughts. Participants were randomly assigned to read a vignette about a target with one of the three diagnostic labels. Participants then completed measures of social distance and reported how dangerous and unpredictable they found the target, in addition to providing the diagnosis they believed the target had. They were then given a brief education about OCD and Schizophrenia and asked to complete assessments again. Results indicated that while an OCD diagnosis was not credible before education, it became the most credible diagnosis following education. Results indicated that education resulted in significantly decreased negative attitudes toward the target, which was accounted for by the shift to determining that the target had OCD.